Face Protection Grill

ABSTRACT

A face protection grill ( 1 ) that is used to protect the face. The face protection grill is used for instance in different kinds of sports to prevent the playing instrument to hit the sportsman, referee or official to the face. It includes wires ( 2 ) and these wires have been put to their place so that when the face protection grill is in its usage position on the face of the user the halves are asymmetric with each other in relation to the vertical level (B) that is halfway between the eyes. This causes that the shadow area caused by the wires ( 2 ) does not reach at a time the vision line of both eyes ( 4 ).

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The aspects of the present disclosure are directed to a face protection grill that is used for the face protection.

The face protection grill according to the present disclosure is used for instance in different kinds of sports to prevent the play or performance instrument to hit the face of the sportsman, referee or official. This kind of sports are for instance ice hockey, bandy, baseball, softball, American football, softball, indoor bandy, lacrosse, hockey, street hockey and different kinds of martial arts. The face protection grill according to the present disclosure is fixed to the helmet in the before mentioned sports events. The face protection grill according to the present disclosure is also suitable to be used in other activities where the need of the protection of the face is achieved using a grill and when a solid protector is not needed. In this connection it can be used also fixed to the crash helmet but also different kinds of frames are possible in case when the protection of the whole head is not necessary.

2. Description of Related Art

In the situation that has been described above the face grills are used nowadays consisting of wires. This kind of grill has generally many before mentioned wires (or bars) that have been installed so that there are these wires or bars in essentially horizontal position or certain parts of the wires have been installed in this way. Most often these kinds of grills have also essentially vertical wires or bars so that even a flat play instrument cannot enter through these wire of bar openings. According to the known technology these grills are made of a stiff and mechanically firm material so that they keep their shape even when they are under stress. The wires have been fixed most often to each other in the crossing points and without exception at the end of the wires to the frame around the grill to add firmness to the grill. The grill is fixed to the helmet or other suitable hat or put to the head as it is. The thickness of the wires and the space between them is intended to be formed so that the playing instruments cannot hit the face of the grill user but on the other hand so that these wires hinder as little as possible the possibility of the user to see. The shape of the grill can be any that is suitable for the situation or then the grill can be fixed directly to the helmet in which case certain parts of the helmet are at the same time the frame of the grill. In certain cases, the grill can have only one horizontal wire. The wires can also be installed essentially horizontally and vertically or otherwise in otherwise different directions.

It is common for all the known technique face protections grills that they are essentially symmetrical and mirror images in relation to the vertical middle line of the face of the user

The greatest drawback of the face protection grills according to the known technology can be seen that they hinder the ability to see with both eyes at the same time when coming to the line of seeing as the wires are in front of the face the wires advancing essentially from the left to the right or from the right to the left or symmetrically diagonally. In other words, whenever the user of the grill lines his seeing to the level where a wire comes to the line of seeing this hinders the ability to see with both eyes at the same time. These shadow areas weaken naturally the ability to work of the user of the grill for instance so that he has to change the position of the head in order to make the shadow area smaller. If one uses a part of the reaction time to turn the head during a sports performance it is clear that the performance weakens essentially. The denser the grill need to be the bigger the above mentioned problem is. The wires that are totally horizontal cause the greatest possible hindrance due to the symmetry.

The thickness of the wires has also its own importance: The thicker they are the more the field of vision is limited.

The face protection grills according to the known technique are used very commonly in the field of for instance sports. One example of this kind of face protection grill has been presented as a part of the ice hockey helmet Bauer™ 5100 Combo.

The aspects of the present disclosure are directed to achieving such a face protection grill that avoids the problems that occur in the known technique. The characterizing features of the face protection grill according to the present disclosure present disclosure are presented in the characterizing part of the claims.

The efficiency in removing the known problems of the face protection grill can be added in some cases with the characteristics that have been mentioned in the independent claims.

SUMMARY

As described herein, the exemplary embodiments overcome one or more of the above or other disadvantages known in the art.

An advantage of the aspects of the present disclosure in relation to the known technique can be seen that when using the face protection grill according to the present disclosure there will not be such shade areas in the field of vision that would reach the both eyes at the same time. This causes that at least one eye sees all the time without hindrance and furthermore, the user of the protection grill has full operation ability all the time he uses the grill. For instance there is no need to turn the face in order to get a general view and so the whole reaction time remains for the actual operation.

In the documents of this application the term “wire” means whatever material shape of cross section or size oblong suitable for the situation that can be used to make a face protection grill.

Likewise, the term “face protection grill” in this application documents means also such a construction where the wires do not cross with each other.

And further the term “symmetric in relation to certain level” in the documents of this application means specially a mirror image in relation to certain level.

These and other aspects and advantages of the exemplary embodiments will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the present disclosure, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. Additional aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will be set forth in the description that follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the present disclosure. Moreover, the aspects and advantages of the present disclosure may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

present disclosure

FIG. 1 represents a face protection grill in accordance to the present disclosure,

FIG. 2, represents a face protection grill installed to a helmet,

FIG. 3, represents a face protection grill according to the known technique,

FIG. 4, represents a face protection grill according to the known technique installed to a helm,

FIG. 5, represents a face protection grill according to the present disclosure where a part of the wires are essentially horizontal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSED EMBODIMENTS

The structure and operation of the face protection grill according to the aspects of the present disclosure is presented next referring to the mentioned Figures.

FIG. 1 presents one face protection grill 1 according to the aspects of the present disclosure seen directly from the front placed on the user's face. It consists of essentially vertical and essentially diagonal wires 2 installed in relation to the horizontal level. Due to being diagonal, the diagonal wires 2 the sides of the face protection grill 1 are asymmetric in relation to the vertical level B. The wires 2 have been joined together in the crossing points and their ends have been fixed to the frame 3 around them. In this example, the wires 2 are thin finished iron rod. When the user of this face protection grill directs his eyes 4 in relation to the horizontal level A diagonally up or down so due to the diagonal position of the wires 2 that can only cause that only one eye 4 has a shadow area at a time. When the look turns in the vertical direction so that the shadow area that is caused by the wire 2 comes to the other eye it has already moved away from the first eye. The diagonality of the wires 2 in the relation of the horizontal level A can be adjusted for instance depending on thickness of the wires and the distance between them always so that when certain parts 2.1, 2.2 of some wires form a shadow area in front of one eye, no other wire or a part of this wire or a corresponding part of another wire 2.1, 2.2 does not form a shadow area for the other eye. The above described situation is possible to obtain in many ways with the different constructions of the wires 2 but their common characteristic is that the face protection grill 1 halves are asymmetric in relation to the vertical line B between the eyes 4.

FIG. 2 describes the face protection grill 1 installed to a helmet 5. In this example, the part of wire 2.1 that is in the vision field and diagonal in relation to the horizontal level and the vertical part of the wire 2.2 are parts of the same longer wire 2. The parts 2.1, 2.2 of the wires 2 that have been presented in the FIG. 2 are asymmetric with each other in relation to the vertical line B. This causes the same technical capacity as in an earlier example, i.e. this asymmetry of the wires prevents the wires 2 to cause shadow areas for the both eyes 4 at the same time. Otherwise the difference of this technical solution to what has been presented earlier is that the face protection grill is a part of the helmet 5 and covers the area in the place of the face. A separate face protection grill 1 can be fixed to the helmet 5 or other hat or so using some fasteners of the known technique 6.

FIGS. 3 and 4 present for clarity the corresponding solutions of the known technique. It can be seen there that the essentially horizontal wires in the vision field and the parts 2.1, 2.2 of this kind of wires come due to their symmetry at the same time to the vision area of both eyes when the look is turned from the horizontal level A diagonally up or down towards them.

One face protection grill 1 according to the aspects of the present disclosure has been described in FIG. 5. In this solution, the wire parts 2.1, 2.2 in both sides of the vertical line B of the horizontal wires 2 are situated in different levels vertically. Their ends 2.1, 2.2 in the middle of the face protection grill can be fixed to the vertical rod 7 or corresponding in the vertical line B as shown in Figurer 5. This way, the wires do not get in any usage situation in the vision field of both eyes at the same time. When supporting to their places the essentially horizontal parts 2.1, 2.2 of the wires, it can be done also by supporting between them their ends 2.1, 2.2 upright, diagonally or bent advancing part that is used to fix the ends 2.1, 2.2 in pairs and thus the vertical rod 7 in the vertical line B is not needed. It is central for this solution that the parts 2.1, 2.2 of the wires are essentially horizontal and are situated in different sides of the face protection grill and at different height levels.

The material for the face protection grill 1 can be metal, plastic, different kind of fibers and combinations of these materials or any other suitable material. The design of the face protection grill can be done in many different ways taking into account the usage of the face protection grill. A part of the wires can be designed if necessary thinner in the direction where this would mean that it causes a thinner obstacle for seeing through the grill from this direction.

It is worth noticing that even though in this description it has been kept only in one example to realize the aspects of the present disclosure, advantageously this does not want to limit in any way the usage of the aspects of the present disclosure only in this example type of use but many variations are possible in the limits of the inventive ideas of the claims.

Thus, while there have been shown, described and pointed out, fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to the exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of devices and methods illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Moreover, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps, which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results, are within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements and/or method steps shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A face protection grill to protect the face in ice hockey, bandy, baseball, softball, American football, floor ball, lacrosse, field hockey, street hockey or some martial art battle, where the part of the face protection grill coming in front of the face consists of wires (2) wherein when the face protection grill (1) has been placed on the users face in the usage position: a. its halves consisting of wires (2) are asymmetric with each other in relation to that geometric vertical line B that is essentially halfway between the user's eyes, b. wires (2) have been placed also otherwise so that none of them or a part of no wire form hindrance for the user's both eyes at the same time.
 2. The face protection grill (1) according to the claim 1, wherein a part of the wires or certain parts (2.1, 2.2) of them have been placed in over 45° and under 90° angle (α) in relation to the vertical level (B) in which case the wire settings on both sides of the vertical level (B) are also asymmetric with each other in relation to the vertical level (B).
 3. The face protection grill (1) according to the claim 1, wherein the wires (2) or the wire lines that have been set to go through it in the width direction have been formed so that the parts (2.1, 2.2) on different sides of their vertical line (B) are essentially horizontally on different height levels with each other and they are fixed in their other ends (2.1′, 2.2′) to the middle bar (7) or a corresponding part or to each other in pairs with the fixing parts between them.
 4. The face protection grill (1) according to claim 1, wherein at least a part of its wires (2)/parts of the wires (2.1, 2.2) that are in the central area have been formed thinner than the wires (2)/parts of the wires (2.1, 2.2) in the periphery so that the shadow area width that they form is thinner than the corresponding area of the periphery area wires/parts of the wires.
 5. A face protection grill (1) to protect the face in ice hockey, bandy, baseball, softball, American football, floor ball, lacrosse, field hockey, street hockey or some martial art battle where the part of the face protection grill that comes in front of the face consists of wires (2) wherein at least a part of the wires (2)/parts of the wires (2.1, 2.2) have been formed thinner than the wires (2)/parts of the wires (2.1, 2.2) so that the width of the shadow area that they form is thinner than the corresponding area in the periphery area.
 6. The face protection grill according to claim 1, wherein the face protection grill is a part of a helmet (5) or can be fixed to a helmet using fixing elements (6). 